~~Riley~~

I stood leaning against a tree trunk, arms folded tightly over my chest; one foot tapping impatiently. Diane had been gone for ages...over ten minutes, at least. I glanced over at Natasha, who was seated on the ground a few feet away from me, nibbling on her lip; a faraway look on her face. I pushed myself away from the tree and began pacing back and forth, my irritation increasing with every step I took.

"For Christ's sake!" I yelled out suddenly, breaking the grim silence, "How long does it take to fucking pee?"

Natasha mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that?" I said, whirling round to face her. She glanced up at me, startled momentarily.

"I...I said, what if she..." Natasha paused, swallowed. "What if something's happened to Diane?"

Her gaze locked with mine and I was taken aback by the intense fear in her eyes; by how close to tears she seemed.

"Why d'you always have to assume the worst?" I sighed. "Nothing's happened to her."

"You don't know that!" she shot back, her eyes sharp. I clenched my teeth; unable to think of anything to say.

Natasha suddenly got to her feet, a determined look on her face.

"I'm going after her." She said firmly.

"I don't think that's a good idea-" I started to say, but I hadn't even got the words out before she shoved past me, disappearing quickly into the undergrowth in the general direction Diane had vanished. And since the last thing I wanted was to be left on my own in this ominous place, I hurried after her. Unfortunately I hadn't realized how difficult it would be to keep Natasha in my sights. The trees were growing so close together that it almost seemed like the leaves formed a roof overhead, completely obscuring the sky above. No light penetrated the gloom around me and it didn't take long for me to completely lose sight of my friend. I felt panic starting to eat away at me and increased my pace, breaking into a sudden run, calling out for Natasha as I did so.

My foot caught on something and I stumbled, losing my balance. I fell hard, something digging into my legs as I landed, tearing at my skin. I bit down on a cry of pain, my hands clenching into fists. I glanced down to see that I had landed in a patch of thorns; their razor sharp edges glinting in the dim light. Some of them were coated in dark blood from where I had been cut.

I was so absorbed in studying the wicked looking thorns that I didn't notice the shadow of a figure lurking in the darkness behind me. There was a sudden noise and something shifted in my peripheral vision but before I could turn around a hand suddenly clutched at my arm; wrenching it painfully back. I cried out in surprise, whirling round, fully expecting to see some bloodthirsty ninja about to slit my throat or something. It was almost a letdown when my gaze settled on a rather bewildered looking Natasha instead.

"Jesus Christ!" I shrieked.

"Shh!" she hissed, flapping her hands, desperately trying to quieten me. "Shut up!"

"Don't tell me, to shut up!" I shot back. "You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!"

She gave me an exasperated look. "I'm sorry, ok? But you have to be quiet." She whispered.

I leaned in closer to her, finally picking up on her urgency. "Why? What's going on?"

She didn't answer my question, her eyes widening in horror as she glanced down at my legs.

"Holy shit, Riley!" she gasped. "What the hell happened to you?"

I frowned at her, confused for a second. I peered down at myself to see what she was talking about. My legs were covered with hundreds of little gashes; the blood that oozed from them running down my leg in thin rivulets. When Natasha had snuck up on me, I had momentarily forgotten about getting my legs torn up by the thorns and now that I had been reminded I could only stare, shocked, at the mess; trying to fight against a sudden wave of light-headedness.

"Riley? A-Are you alright?" Natasha sounded frightened. "You've gone pale..."

I blinked and shook my head trying to dispel the sick feeling.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine." I said. "Just...I just kinda fell, over there." I gestured in the general direction of the patch of thorns. Natasha saw them and grimaced.

"Ouch."

"Uh huh..." I said, wincing at the sting of pain from my wounds; trying my best to ignore it. "What's going on?"

Natasha tore her gaze away from my legs, with difficulty, looking me in the eyes. "Huh?"

"You said before, we had to be quiet. What's going on?"

"Oh, yeah. It's nothing really, I just heard voices and I didn't want us to draw attention to ourselves."

I frowned. "Voices? W-What if it's Diane? Or Mel, Julia and Carmen?" I asked hopefully.

She shook her head slightly. "It didn't sound like any of them."

"Oh..." I said, unable to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

"Even so," she said, "I think we should go check it out just in case. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and get our hands on a scroll?"

I snorted. "Yeah, right..."

Natasha scowled at me then sighed, pulling herself to her feet. "D'you think you'll be ok to walk?"

I winced as another flare of pain shot through my legs. "I'll manage."

She held her hand out to help me up and I took it gratefully. We made our way cautiously through the thick trees; though I found myself struggling to keep up with Natasha since I was half limping from the pain in my legs. I very nearly crashed right into my friend when she stopped abruptly.

"Natasha! What the fuck are you-!"

"Shh!" she hissed. I rolled my eyes at her.

"What now?"

She didn't answer me; her mind seemingly elsewhere. I fell silent next to her, straining my ears, trying to figure out what it was she had heard.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the scream.

A cold chill swept over me as realization struck.

"Diane!" Natasha cried. Before I had time to even react she had bolted in the direction the scream had come from, dragging me along behind her. I could barely keep up with her with my injured legs, and found myself stumbling countless times. Natasha came to a sudden stop at a break in the trees, her grip on my arm tightening. I winced as her nails dug in to my skin.

I glanced up only to have my heart leap into my throat at what I saw.

Diane was hunched down on the far side of the clearing, cornered by three menacing figures. They were all wearing black clothes that seemed to blend into the darkness of the surrounding forest. The two shorter members of the team were wearing large domed hats which hid their faces; the third figure towered above the others and had an air of superiority about him. Obviously, the leader of the team. He had two scars running along the left side of his face, one of them running along his eye, rendering it useless. He was scowling down at Diane, a malicious glint in his eyes.

From our hiding place, among the bushes at the other end of the clearing, we couldn't hear what was being said. But judging by the looks on the faces of the Rain Ninja, I could guess...

The tallest of the team members was scowling viciously, his mouth turned down in a grimace. He leaned down and suddenly, slapped Diane hard across the face. She gave a cry of pain, stumbling back.

Natasha's fingers dug painfully into my palm. I turned to see her face twisted into a furious glare, her eyes dark with rage.

"That fucker!" she spat, her fingernails digging further into my skin. I winced in pain, but before I could say tell her to stop, before I could say anything at all in fact, Natasha was gone.

One second she was standing right next to me then all of a sudden, it was almost like she blurred out of focus and in the next instant, she was twenty feet away from me, at the other side of the clearing, mere feet away from the group surrounding Diane. She drew back a clenched fist and hit the tallest of the three right in the jaw. He staggered back, his eyes wide with shock.

I could hardly believe it myself.

Natasha was at least a head shorter than this guy, barely reaching his shoulder and yet even from this distance I could see the mark her fist had made on him. And since when had she been able to move so fast?

The boy suddenly straightened, seemingly over his surprise, the fierce look of rage back in his eyes.

"You little bitch!" he roared, raising a kunai knife in his clenched fist. Fear flashed across Natasha's face and she ducked, just barely missing the blade. I leapt into action, hurtling through the bushes, stumbling from my shaky legs. Halfway across the clearing, my foot caught on something and I fell hard. I glanced up in time to see the taller boy had seized Natasha by her arm and was yelling something in her face. I couldn't hear the words through the deafening ringing in my ears. I couldn't have heard Natasha's reply either. If she'd said anything at all.
But instead of using her words, like a civilised person, she thought it would be a better idea to spit at him.

Fucking great idea, that.

The older boy glared down at her, for a moment, unable to speak from rage. Then he threw her to the ground with a howl of fury. Diane let out a cry of fear, clutching at her friends hand as he pulled out a kunai knife. I scrambled desperately to my feet, glancing up in time to see him about to bring the knife down on Natasha.

I stretched out my palm, screaming for him to stop. Something cold and metal suddenly collided with my hand and I leapt about a foot in the air. I glanced down to see the kunai knife the Rain Ninja had been holding a second before was now nestled in my own palm. I stared at the knife, shocked into silence. I glanced up to see the three Rain Ninja staring at me, looks off something akin to disbelief on all of their faces.

I swallowed. "I...t-this isn't what it looks like-"

There was a sudden noise behind me. The tall boy's attention shifted over my shoulder, his eyes narrowing to a glare. I turned round, my breath catching in my throat at what I saw.

Standing only a few feet away from me was the infamous team from the sand. Kankuro, Temari and...Gaara. My heart slammed against my ribs at the mere sight of the red haired psychopath. His soulless green gaze rested on me, and for a second he looked like he was about to say something to me, but then his attention quickly moved on to the team of rain ninja over my shoulder and his eyes narrowed into a fearsome glare.

"I want to fight you." He rasped. "Right here, right now."

The Rain Ninja took a sudden step back, surprised. "What did you just say?" he snarled.

With a jolt I suddenly vividly remembered the part of the anime series this was from. My heart leapt into my throat as the realization hit me: one of the most bloodthirsty battles in the Forest of Death was about to take place.

And we were caught right in the middle of it.